Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/121

Rh Why do you give only twenty pounds? they say, at the communal assembly. You might as well have given nothing at all. If you undertake to give at all, you should at least contribute two or three measures from each house, or even two sacks."

142. You see what I predicted has happened. Bread must not be sold, but in certain admissible cases it must be given gratis. And they give it, while you conceal the commandment of labor for bread. But if it had been made known to all men, without diminishing its importance, the burned city of Krasmoïarsk would have received from our district of Manoussinsk alone, several thousand measures of wheat, and each commune would cause the necessary succor to be distributed. It would be done in all cases, for no one knows what may happen to himself to-morrow, or even to-day.

143. Ask instead for money. It will not be given: 1st, because the peasant rarely has any; 2d, because the commandment above cited directs the laborer to give bread, rather than anything else. Besides, money is a lifeless thing compared with bread; it is as a mere stone. No one makes gifts in money; the more one has of it, the more the desire increases for it. Give all the money and treasures in the world to one person: will it make him happy? will it satisfy his cupidity? No. But what could he wish for more? why would he be discontented ? He will cry, "I would hold the